Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel calcium phosphate core particles for use in aesthetic medicine, to methods of making them, and to methods of using them in corrective or cosmetic surgery, as filler, for the sustained release of cosmetic medicines, and as a delivery vehicle for pharmaceutical agents, nutraceuticals, growth factors, and/or tissue repair chemicals and biochemicals.
Description of Related Art
Nanometer scale particles have been proposed for use as carrier particles, as supports for biologically active molecules, such as proteins, and as decoy viruses. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,178,882; 5,219,577; 5,306,508; 5,334,394; 5,460,830; 5,460,831; 5,462,750; and 5,464,634, the entire contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The particles disclosed in the above-referenced patents, however, are generally extremely small, in the 10-200 nm size range. Particles of this size are difficult to make with any, degree of consistency, and their morphology is not described in any detail. None of these patents disclose the use of nanoparticles as sustained release matrices. Furthermore, these patents do not disclose the use of calcium phosphate particles as either adjuvants or delivery vehicles for aesthetic medicine or treatments.
There has been a suggestion in the literature to use calcium phosphate particles as vaccine adjuvants, but calcium phosphate particles have generally been considered an unsuitable alternative to other adjuvants due to inferior adjuvanting activity. See, e.g., Goto et al., Vaccine, vol. 15, no. 12/13 (1997). Moreover, the calcium phosphate evaluated was typically microparticulate (>1000 nm diameter) and possessed a rough and oblong morphology, in contrast to the core particles of the present invention.
Therefore, an important need remains for calcium phosphate core particles useful as core materials or carriers for biologically active moieties that can be produced simply and consistently. A further need remains for calcium phosphate core particles that can be effectively used as adjuvants and delivery vehicles for aesthetic medicines and treatments, and as controlled release matrices for use in cosmetic, nutraceutic, or aesthetic applications.
The inventor's issued patent and pending patent application disclose many varieties of CAP particles and their methods of use. U.S. Pat. No. 6,355,271, which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses the inventor's novel therapeutic calcium phosphate particles and methods of their manufacture and use. Further, pending U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 09/794,576, 09/932,538, 09/932,503, 10/306,062, and 10/824,097 disclose other compositions and uses of the inventor's calcium phosphate particles. Each of these applications is hereby incorporated by reference.